Enrico Puglisi Flies, Step By Step

Enrico Puglisi Flies

As promised, here is a step-by-step on tying flies with Enrico Puglisi flies. I decided to do something a little more complicated for the demo, but feel free (I recommend) to use only one or two colors at first. Good luck!

Step 1: Get your hook set up on the vise, and start a thread base about halfway down the hook shank. If you go to far back, you may end up with too much material and too beefy of a fly. Setup Tip- it will help to have a waste basket below you so you can sweep away any excess materials.


Step 2: Cut a 5 inch strand of your top color, containing about 20 individual fibers. tie in the clump at the halfway point, so one end points back and the others points towards the eye of the hook. Next, pull the front half of the fibers over and tie them down. This technique will use less material and create a taller shape.

Step 3: Tie in your next color the same way, but make sure this clump is closer to the side of the hook shank (rather than on top). Rather than tying the front half of your materials on the same side, pull them around the hook and tie them on the other side. This will create a more even color pattern. Continue moving forward and tying clumps in until you have: A-Created the color pattern you were looking for, and B-You hit the eye of the hook (or close to it).

Step 4: Whip finish the fly and cut the thread. Take the fly out of the vise and grab some scissors, because this is the step that will make or break your fly. Once you're all set, take the fly and fluff it as much as you can. This is what the fish will see when the fly swims through the water. Take your scissors, and start from the back by cutting at angles until it looks like,well, a fish. The real trick here is not to cut too much. If you do, you end up with a ball of fibers that doesn't have much action and looks too small in the water. If you messed up, you're back at step one; if you're still here, let's move on to the next step.

Step 5: If you have a small  cautery /welding tool hidden in the garage, now would be the time to grab it. What you're trying to do here is create a small hole in the fibers where you want the eyes to be. Once you've got that done, use some epoxy to glue in some eyes. Voila! The finished fly... well, maybe.

Step 6: This last step is totally optional. If you want your fly to have lines, spots, or any special markings, just take a sharpie and add them in. This seems like a small step, but it can be the difference between a good looking fly and a great looking fly.